WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Ten: 10-14 November 2008

Water in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- After a relatively quite spell, the weather across the tropical ocean basins became more active last week:
- In the North Atlantic basin, a tropical depression over the southwestern Caribbean Sea grew rapidly during the second half of the week to become the eighth hurricane of the 2008 North Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Paloma. By this past Saturday, Hurricane Paloma had intensified to become a major hurricane, reaching category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with maximum sustained surface winds of 145 mph as it moved initially to the north and then to the northeast across the Caribbean, passing across the Cayman Islands and Cuba. By late Saturday night Paloma made landfall along the south central coast of Cuba, where it weakened rapidly to a category 1 hurricane. A visible image obtained from sensors onboard NOAA's GOES-12 satellite late last week shows the characteristic swirl of clouds surrounding Hurricane Paloma. [NASA Earth Observatory] A detailed discussion and additional satellite images on Hurricane Paloma are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
- In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Polo, the sixteenth named tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane in that basin formed well to the west of the Central American coast over last weekend. Approximately two days later, this minimal tropical storm dissipated as it traveled westward. Additional information on Tropical Storm Polo, together with satellite images, can be obtained from the NASA Hurricane Page.
- In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Maysak formed northeast of Zambonga in the Philippine Islands at the midpoint of last week. After traveling initially to the northwest across the South China Sea, this tropical storm curved to the northeast by late in the weekend.
"Teachers Under the Sea" bring marine science to the classroom -- A high school teacher from Miami, FL and from Longmont, CO, selected as the first K-12 teachers to participate in the "Teachers Under the Sea" are living and working in the NOAA's Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only permanent undersea laboratory that is submerged under the ocean surface in Florida's Conch Reef Sanctuary. In addition to assisting in research, these teachers are providing live communications to the nation's schools through broadcasts, blogs, and video conferencing. [NOAA News]
Monitoring drought in Ethiopia -- An image made of the Vegetation Anomaly (or NDVI) across eastern Africa from data collected by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite during late September and the first half of October shows the poor health of the vegetation caused by drought in Ethiopia. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Flooding in France -- A recent image of east central France obtained from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite shows the flooding of the Saône River and its tributaries at the start of November. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Satellites used to monitor glacier mass changes -- A geophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues from other institutions have used satellite data obtained from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission satellites to precisely measure changes in the mass of mountain glaciers that surround the Gulf of Alaska. [NASA GSFC]
Seeking answers on the Greenland ice cap -- Scientists at a recent workshop organized by the European Science Foundation focused upon developing research efforts designed to measure and answer how the Greenland ice cap is responding to recent changes in climate, especially in how the increased meltwater could affect global sea levels. [EurekAlert!]
Correcting for ocean cooling -- An ocean scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues have reevaluated the near-surface energy budget of the world's oceans and have found that data for the 2004-2006 collected by ARGO floats were not correct and did not show a cooling of the near surface waters as initially thought. [NASA Earth Observatory]
North Atlantic experiencing major climate-driven ecological shifts -- An oceanographer at Cornell University and his colleagues report that the increases in temperatures and an influx of freshwater from melting Arctic ice sheets and glaciers during the last century have resulted in a dramatic shift in the ecosystem of the North Atlantic. [EurekAlert!]
Ancient China could have suffered from dry spells -- Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Lanzhou University in China who studied amounts of uranium and thorium in the layers of a stalagmite found in a cave in Gansu Province, China have determined that over the last 1810 years, episodes with little precipitation across northern China associated with weak summer Asian monsoon circulation regimes may have resulted in the fall of at least three Chinese dynasties. [EurekAlert!]
Loss of reserved forests because of wildfires -- A report from the US Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station indicates that old-growth forests in the driest regions of the Pacific Northwest have a great threat of being lost from wildfire than from logging. The report, based upon 30 years of satellite data, also indicates that warmer springs and summers, together with earlier snowmelt, contribute to the dry conditions that produce the increased incidence of fires in the West. [EurekAlert!]
Review of October weather and climate across the US -- Based upon preliminary October monthly temperature and precipitation data from across the nation, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center report that the temperature average for the continental US was slightly below the national average for the 20th century, while the precipitation totals suggest a slightly drier month across the lower 48 than the century average. Over two dozen states, located primarily across the southern Plains, the Southeast and along the Eastern Seaboard had below average temperatures, while only Arizona and California reported statewide monthly temperatures that were above average. The West Coast States and sections of the western Gulf Coast, Midwest and Middle Atlantic States had below average statewide precipitation totals for October, while above to much above average precipitation totals were across the Great Plains. Nebraska reported its wettest October in 114 years, since comprehensive climate records began in 1895. Drought persisted across many of the areas that had been dry in September, with some worsening of the drought across the Midwest, the Mid-South and the Pacific Northwest, but slight improvements in drought conditions in the northern Plains and parts of the Southeast. [NOAA News]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, drought, floods, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Global Water News Watch -- Other water news sources can be obtained through the SAHRA Project at the University of Arizona [SAHRA Project]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Water in Microclimates

Water is an important component of Earth's planetary-scale climate system, playing a key role in the global radiation balance (e.g., the greenhouse effect) and large-scale transport of heat (e.g., latent heat transfer and ocean currents). The global climate system exhibits considerable spatial variability so that Earth is a mosaic of many climate types and water is often an important factor in distinguishing between individual climates. Hence, for example, the climate of a desert differs from that of a rainforest primarily because of differences in precipitation totals and potential evaporation rate.

Climate (long-term average atmospheric conditions) also varies on smaller spatial scales. Here, we consider examples of how the local water and heat energy budgets vary on the scale of microclimates, having horizontal dimensions from less than 1 m to 100 m (3.3 ft to 330 ft) and vertical dimension from Earth's surface to an altitude of 100 m (330 ft).

All other factors being equal, afternoon air temperatures tend to be lower over an irrigated farm field than over a non-irrigated field. Where soils are wet, more of the available heat is used to evaporate water (latent heating) leaving less to raise the temperature of the soil surface and overlying air (sensible heating). In the Northern Hemisphere, snow tends to persist longer and the growing season is shorter on the shaded north- and east-facing hill slopes (facing away from the sun) than on south- and west-facing slopes (facing the sun). In portions of the Rocky Mountains, the sunnier, drier, and warmer south-facing slopes are sparsely vegetated by grasses, ponderosa pine, and juniper. Meanwhile, dense stands of fir and spruce grow on the shaded, moist, and cooler north-facing slopes.

Trees, sand dunes, buildings and other obstacles slow the wind and reduce the wind's ability to transport material (including soil particles) in suspension. Farmers take advantage of this effect by constructing shelterbelts (or "windbreaks") that reduce wind erosion of soil and modify the microclimate. A shelterbelt may consist of a fence or multiple rows of trees or bushes planted upwind of an agricultural field--usually oriented perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction. In the winter, snow-bearing horizontal winds slow as they encounter a shelterbelt. The wind's ability to transport snow diminishes and snow accumulates on the field immediately downwind of the shelterbelt. The air spaces within a snow cover make it a relatively poor conductor of heat so that the snow cover protects the underlying soil from deep penetration of subfreezing temperatures. In areas where winter wheat is grown, the snow cover protects the dormant plants from potentially damaging fluctuations in soil temperature. Snow trapped by shelterbelts also increases the local supply of soil moisture that becomes available during the spring thaw. Furthermore, slowing the wind reduces the evaporation of soil moisture. Significant increases in crop yields can be attributed to the microclimatic effects of shelterbelts.

Climatic contrasts are also evident between forested and non-forested areas. Wind speed diminishes considerably within a forest--as much as 60% to 80% at a distance of only 30 m (100 ft) into a deciduous forest. Weaker winds coupled with reduced solar radiation reaching the forest floor (due to the forest canopy) decreases the amount of evaporation from the forest floor. However, the relatively high rate of transpiration by forest vegetation more than compensates for the reduction in evaporation from the forest floor. Overall, the air in a forest tends to be somewhat more humid than the air over a nearby non-forested area. Even tall field crops such as corn have a similar effect on the microclimate.

Concept of the Week: Questions

In the Northern Hemisphere, snow is likely to persist longer on the shaded [(north-) (south-)] facing slope of a hill.
The relatively high humidity in forested areas is primarily the result of relatively high [(precipitation) (evaporation) (transpiration)] occurring in forested areas.

Historical Events:

10 November 1835...A severe storm crossed the Great Lakes and "swept the lakes clear of sail" as 19 ships were lost and 254 sailors killed on Lakes Erie, Ontario and Michigan. (Intellicast)
10 November 1975...Another "freshwater fury" hit the Great Lakes. A large ore carrier on Lake Superior, the Edmund Fitzgerald, sank near Crisp Point with the loss of its crew of 29 men. Eastern Upper Michigan and coastal Lower Michigan were hardest hit by the storm, which produced wind gusts to 71 mph at Sault Ste Marie, MI and gusts to 78 mph at Grand Rapids, MI. Severe land and road erosion occurred along the Lake Michigan shoreline. A popular hit song by Gordon Lightfoot was inspired by the storm. (David Ludlum) (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
Editors note: In 2000, the NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office at Marquette, MI created a web page commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the sinking and describing the advances in marine weather forecasting over the last quarter century. EJH
10 November 1993...Violent storm over the Black Sea closed the Russian oil terminal port of Novorossisk for 20 days. "Bora" winds reported as high as 112 mph sank at least seven ships. (The Weather Doctor)
11 November 1099...Violent storm in the North Sea killed 100,000 people in England and The Netherlands. (The Weather Doctor)
12 November 1956...(date approximate) The crew on the icebreaker USCGC Glacier saw what may have been the world's largest iceberg. Observed about 150 miles west of Antarctica's Scott Island, the iceberg was about 60 mi wide by 208 mi long, or roughly the size of Maryland. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
12 November 1968...New England was battered by the third severe coastal storm in only 5 days. An intense low crossed Long Island and produced wind gusts to 100 mph at Block Island, RI. Tides ran 5 to 10 ft above normal in some places with severe coastal flooding and property damage. Rockland, ME recorded a wind gust of 86 mph. Winds reached 90 mph in Massachusetts. Up to 10 in. of snow fell at some of the higher elevations, bringing the totals for the three storms to as much as 60 in. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
12 November 1974...A great Alaska storm in the Bering Sea caused the worst coastal flooding of memory at Nome, AK with a tide of 13.2 ft. The flooding caused $12 million damage; however, no lives were lost. (David Ludlum)
12 November 1980...A fringe rain band from Hurricane Jeannie in the Gulf of Mexico let loose a deluge of 23.38 in. of rain in 24 hrs at Key West, FL, an all-time 24-hr record. (Intellicast)
13 November 1946...General Electric scientists, led by Vincent J. Schaefer, produced snow from a natural cloud over Mt. Greylock in the Massachusetts Berkshires in the first modern day cloud seeding experiment. An airplane spread small pellets of dry-ice (frozen carbon dioxide) for three miles at a height of 14,000 ft. Although the snow fell an estimated 3,000 feet, it evaporated as it fell through dry air, and never reached the ground. (The Weather Channel) (Today in Science History)
13 November 1970...A cyclone swept over Bangladesh, then known as East Pakistan, pushing a 49-foot storm surge against the coast at high tide. Flooding killed an estimated 500,000. Over 50 million people were affected by the storm rain, wind and surge. (The Weather Doctor)
13 November 1998...The youngest son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and two companions were swept into Kokanee Lake in British Columbia's Kokanee Glacier National Park by an avalanche while on a backcountry ski trip. The companions swam to shore, but the young Trudeau drowned. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
13 November 2002...The single-hulled oil tanker Prestige sank off Spain's Galician coast, causing a huge oil spill. (Wikipedia)
14-18 November 1979...Approximately 40 in. of rain were measured over northeast Hawaii, with much higher amounts likely in mountainous areas not monitored by rain gauges. The Waipio Valley was hit hard, with more than 90 percent of the valley's farmland covered by flood debris. The new $6.9 million road to Waipio Lookout that had just been dedicated was severely damaged. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
14-21 November 1991...Tropical Cyclone Tia spent most of its life near the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. However, it completely destroyed 90 percent of all dwellings on Tikopia Island. The remaining 10 percent of the buildings had collapsed walls or roofs that had been blown off. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
15 November 1900...A record lake-effect snowstorm at Watertown, NY produced 45 in. in 24 hrs. The storm total was 49 in. (14^th-15^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)